Carol Johnson, a spokeswoman with the National Park Service, said officials had made attempts in the past week to remove the algae, which began showing up in the pool about a week after its reopening. Johnson had said earlier that the Park Service expected a “break-in period” for the pool, but no one had anticipated the amount of algae that appeared.

Last week, officials began to filter out some of the algae. Most of what remained was dead, Johnson said, but the process of letting the algae disintegrate naturally could have taken months.

So officials decided to increase the ozone level of the pool. And after meeting with aquatic biologists and water resource management experts, they decided it would be better to drain, refill the pool and then recalibrate its ozone level.

The amount of ozone, which neutralizes the nutrient food for the algae, will be doubled. That should keep the algae from reappearing, Johnson said.

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Renovations on the Lincoln reflecting pool

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The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool underwent a $34 million renovation that forced it to close in 2010. Now workers are trying to remove a sea of algae that is growing in the water.

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The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool underwent a $34 million renovation that forced it to close in 2010. Now workers are trying to remove a sea of algae that is growing in the water.